Murdo Ritchie reviews Catalonia Reborn. How Catalonia Took on the Corrupt Spanish State and the Legacy of Franco, Chris Bambery & George Kerevan, Luath Press, 2018.

CATALONIA – A NATION THROWN FORWARD

When exiled Catalan minister Clara Ponsati spoke recently in Edinburgh she had to explain why the Spanish Constitution was not a mechanism of popular protection, but a way of ordering the transition from the Franco dictatorship to a world acceptable to the Spanish elite and international imperialism. The Spanish state promoted the illusion that the referendum and the declaration of independence were against the law and a popularly agreed constitution. Regrettably, the way the so-called democratic transition was manipulated into existence is badly understood outside of Spain. Continue reading “CATALONIA: A NATION THROWN FORWARD”

The ongoing shift to the Right in European politics is highlighted by the attempt by Rajoy’s right wing Popular Party Spanish government to stop the Catalonian independence referendum through resort to repressive measures, including the mobilisation of the Civil Guard, a tactic regularly used by Franco. MSPs from the SNP, Labour, Lib-Dems and Greens have all signed a letter condemning the actions of the Spanish state. The significant absence of any Tory MSP signatures shows that in the party’s post-Brexit move further to the Right, they are measuring up the possibilities of resorting to such measures in the future, in the event of another Scottish independence referendum.

With delegates from Independence to Change All attending the Radical Independence Conference in Glasgow, Duncan McCabe of Dundee RIC looks at the current situation in Catalunya.

Freedom Come All Ye

Back in the mid-eighties 25000 anti-nuclear protesters took part in a CND-organised ‘Hands Across Scotland’ human chain. That was quite a show of solidarity, but it was nothing compared to the Catalan Way event on 11th September this year when an estimated 1. 6 million Catalans linked hands from the French border to the Mediterranean coast south of Barcelona.